Marketing Terms

Social Media Marketing Glossary

click-through rate (CTR) – The average number of click-throughs per hundred ad impressions, expressed as a percentage.

conversion rate – The percentage of visitors who take a desired action.

cost per action (CPA) – Online advertising payment model in which payment is based solely on qualifying actions such as sales or registrations.

cost per click (CPC) – The cost or cost-equivalent paid per click-through.

CPM – Cost per thousand impressions.

Facebook – A social networking site located at facebook.com.

Facebook Ads – An online advertising platform to show ads on Facebook and related properties.

forum – an online community where visitors may read and post topics of common interest.

impression – a single instance of an online advertisement being displayed.

like-gate – A barrier requiring a user to “Like” a brand’s page before they can access certain content from that brand on Facebook.

LinkedIn Ads – An online advertising platform to show ads on LinkedIn.

netiquette – short for network etiquette, the code of conduct regarding acceptable online behavior.

owned media – Content created on properties you own or control.

Snapchat Ads – An online advertising platform to show ads on Snapchat.

social networking – The process of creating, building, and nurturing virtual communities and relationships between people online.

source/medium – In analytics, a dimension that describes how people found a site, combining the dimensions of source (specific) and medium (category).

TikTok Ads – An online advertising platform to show ads on TikTok.

UTM codes – A group of Google Analytics tracking parameters added to the end of URLs to track the effectiveness of marketing campaigns. (UTM = Urchin Tracking Module, from the Urchin analytics software that preceded Google Analytics.)

word-of-mouth marketing – a marketing method that relies on casual social interactions to promote a product.